Impact of Covid-19 on firms' performance : empirical evidence from India

The current study aims to examine the impact of the pandemic (Covid-19) on the financial performance of some of the selected Indian sectors. The study targets all Indian firms listed on the Bombay stock exchange, which belong to the following sectors (Constructing, tourism and hospitality, food and consumer sectors). The study extracted data of 444 firms from the Prowess database for four sectors. Due to some missing values, the study dropped 73 firms. Therefore, the final sample of this study consists of 371 firms. Results revealed a significant difference in total income, net sales, net profit, earnings per share, and diluted earnings per share before and after the pandemic in tourism, hospitality, and consumer sectors. The result of the study states that there is a significant difference in total income net sales before and after the pandemic in construction. There is a difference in the decline in both sectors' net sales and total income during the pandemic. Conversely, there is no significant difference between net profit, earnings per share, diluted earnings per share before and after the pandemic in constructing and food sectors. Results of the study state that the food sector was not affected by the pandemic, whereas the construction sector reduced its expenses to their minimum. The study also found that the tourism, hospitality and customer sectors were the most effected by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the construction sector and food sector, which was a minor sector affected by the pandemic. Most of the prior research on Covid-19 is theoretical, and only a few have conducted an empirical investigation. The study is unique as it evaluates the financial performance of Indian firms before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not been studied yet in the Indian context. Further, this study provides valuable insights to regulators and policymakers about the most affected sectors due to the pandemic by analysing Indian sectors.